The aorta artery in the abdomen carries blood from the heart to the abdominal region. One disorder of the abdominal aorta is known as an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which is a permanent localized dilation of the arterial wall of the abdominal aorta. When dilation of the arterial wall is greater than 1.5 times the typical, i.e. nominal, diameter, it is referred to as an aneurysm. A normal abdominal aorta is shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1A shows a typical aortic aneurysm at 16. An aortic aneurysm is usually located below the renal arteries 18 and the kidney arteries 20 and above the aorta-iliac bifurcation 22. Below the aortic-iliac bifurcation 22 are additional arteries. Abdominal aortic aneurysms are a fairly common disorder, occurring in approximately 5-7% of the population over age 60. Abdominal aortic aneurysms, depending upon their size, result in pressure on adjacent tissue structure and organs, causing potential embolization and/or thrombosis in those tissues/organs. Rupture of the aneurysm typically results in death, and comprises approximately 2% of all deaths in men over 60 years of age.
Accurate diagnosis of an abdominal aortic aneurysm is important in preventing rupture, as well as in controlling the expansion of the aneurysm. Convention two-dimension B-mode ultrasound scan devices are currently used to produce measurements of aortic aneurysms, both axially (longitudinally) along the aorta and laterally (radially) across the aorta. Typically, the accuracy is within three millimeters of the actual size of the aneurysm, using conventional CT or MRI processing. These conventional systems, whoever, are very expensive, both to purchase/lease and to maintain. Further, a trained sonographer is necessary to interpret the results of the scans. This results in many aneurysms going undetected and/or being not consistently monitored after discovery, until rupture and resulting death of the patient.
Hence, it would be desirable to have a low-cost yet accurate system to detect and measure abdominal aortic aneurysms. In particular, it would be useful to a primary care physician or emergency personnel to have a low-cost device which provides accurate information concerning aortic aneurysms, without the necessity of a trained technician to interpret the scan results.